Qishr (Yemeni Ginger Coffee-Husk Drink)

Yemen’s own coffee drink, made not from the beans but from the dried husks of the coffee cherry, lightly toasted, crushed and simmered with ginger. It is amber and tea-like, mildly sweet and fruity, with the warmth of the ginger. Eighteenth-century travellers found Yemenis drinking this while their beans went abroad from Mocha. It has caffeine, less than coffee; it is not a decaf.

Untested: not yet made in this kitchen. It is here for the Qishr page.

Ingredients

4 tablespoons (about 12 g) dried coffee husks (qishr, or cascara)
300 ml (1¼ cups) water
2 thin slices fresh ginger, or ½ teaspoon ground ginger
1 small piece cinnamon stick or 2 cardamom pods, lightly crushed, optional
2 to 3 teaspoons sugar, to taste

Directions

Toast the husks in a dry pan over low heat, stirring, for 2 to 3 minutes, until fragrant and only a shade darker. Do not let them brown like coffee.
Crush them roughly in a mortar, or in a bag with a rolling pin.
Put the husks, water, ginger and any spice in a small pot, bring to a boil, then simmer gently for 10 to 20 minutes, until amber and fragrant.
Stir in sugar to taste, let the solids settle for a minute, and pour through a fine strainer into small cups.

Notes

Where this comes from This kitchen’s assembly of the historical and modern methods. Jean de La Roque (1716) describes the husks toasted in an earthen pan until “only coloured a little”, then boiled like coffee into a drink “the colour of the best English beer” that needs no sugar. Carsten Niebuhr (1760s): husks “slightly roasted, and pounded”, tasting “like tea”. Ukers (1922) reports half an hour’s boiling in France and an hour’s in Somaliland. Modern Yemeni qishr is usually boiled with ginger, and sometimes cinnamon, cardamom or cloves (Aramco World, 1997; Orientalia Suecana, 2026). No published tested ratio exists; these amounts are a starting point. Buying husks Dearborn, Michigan: Qahwah House sells 16 oz of qishr husks for $17.99, Haraz Coffee House 20 lb for $360 (October 2026). Dried cascara sold for coffee-cherry tea is the same thing. Caffeine Coffee husks contain caffeine, less than the beans; sellers who call qishr “decaf” are wrong. See The Bean page for cascara’s caffeine and safety. The photo Arabic dallah coffee pots, standing in for qishr, of which no open-licensed photograph exists.